America
By 2095 the United States as we used to know it has long gone, now only known in tales told by old men in villages and various vagaries from drunks in bars and the historical professors in Corporation enclaves. The USA today is a proud and broken nation of sweeping plains, toxic wastes, and rolling radiated sandy deserts, around the perimeter of which cluster gleaming Corporation ceramite-plastic skyscraper enclaves, concrete government buildings and free thinking environmental trailer parks. It is true, the drastic climatic changes of over a century have forced its citizens to leave its once-golden heartlands to the Corporation enclaves and barely liveable elements, but in 2095 the United States are as civilized and progressive a nation as anywhere else on this scorched barren earth. The land has deteriorated considerably, with the deserts, often radiated or infested with biotechnological or diseased contamination spreading up from the south, and clean or at least safe drinking water becoming increasingly scarce.The once proud American Dream is over, as people scrape out a life in the vast NoGo's, remaining government structured cities, or live under corporate thumbs in the tightly policed PZ Territories, or 'Enclaves'. In this day and age information is power and the media hungry masses are always looking for its latest fix. From E-newspapers to digital radio, from digital media devices like tablets, phones, augmented reality devices, television to the internet/Intraweb and illegal/legal Satellite feeds. The Corporate media used to be the leading factor in political and information communication; these celebrity news moguls were held up as the mirror of American society, and its ideal. It is commonly assumed that media has the responsibility of conveying the truth and relevant information for the common good, however the truth is very different and a lot darker. The various corporations, Government & state bodies maintain the real purpose of it and accomplish its functions as watchdogs identifying the most relevant approved corporate issues, providing a viewers free thinking independence. However, while the 'Official Media' may be Corporation and usually Gen-Tec Biased, the independent media are not fulfilling these purposes, these media anarchists are fighting back with hacked feeds and signals, free thinking channels, and independent Bio-Blogs, the ultimate in the counter culture, ''telling people 'How it is.' We live in a constant changing and mutating digital world, The '''Media-Information Age' (also known as the Media Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age) is a period in human history characterised by the shift from a traditional industry and life style that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information computerisation and media worth. “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” Aldous Huxley, Brave New World '' 'The United States' While the US was nominally governed from Washington they are not as strong as they once were, and several states are almost without any Government support or control, while others have become so separate in trade, legislation, and border control that they are unofficially called the 'Independent' or 'Free States', and what little power the Official US Government does wield is directed and dictated to largely by various Corporations that support the Government with loans, equipment, services, and even personnel. Much of the US is now being swallowed by deserts as a result of Global Climate Change, Nuclear Fallout Damage, and Endless Chemical, Biological, Technological and Sewage Waste gradually devastating the land. Much of the Central US is now desert or salt flats, while some are still humid and even pleasantry temperate they are becoming scarce oasis in the gradually shrinking regions across the globe. 'The Eastern Seaboard' Of the surviving eastern seaboard, however, the rising Atlantic Ocean has eaten away into the lower-lying parts, flooding many hundreds of square miles and causing untold problems in relocating of those that lived there. Of the East Coast that is remaining or at least Temperate, or at least humid due in part to the Appalachian Mountains slowing the spread of the desert, though areas of Florida and Georgia are starting to turn to Desert and Alabama is suffering severe droughts. The Seat of the Government in Washington is now experiencing rising temperatures and increasing environmental pollution as the air grows humid and the rainbow coloured rivers turn to sludge from the rising temperatures. More than a century of refuse and polluted and poisoned by the factories of Kansas, Minneapolis and Chicago, waste dumping, environmental disasters, lack of sanitation, all leave a mark, and sadly the same is true as far as the Canadian border in the north with Boston marking the northern most PZ Territory on the East coast. New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore fall in the heart of the largest PZ region in the US and this has given rise to very tightly controlled districts spreading from city to city, even reaching Toronto and Detroit this region still manages to feel like little has changed, with warmer temperatures making little difference to the people living in this part of the US. Further south in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida the climate still remains temperate, with waterways still flowing and farms still producing, but little of the territory is PZ, instead the Government retains some para and official military forces that keep the peace in what is fast becoming the last haven of old forests in the US. Louisiana is the last PZ Territory on the East Coast, though devastating Oil Spills in the Gulf of Mexico have damaged the Marshes and Swamps, despite this the temperature still remains for the most part a Temperate environment and plenty of plant life still grows here, though the central regions of the state have been abandoned by the PZ Enforcers and now this toxic Swamp region is home to Settlements of Mutants, Mutagenic's, Cyber/Bio-Terrors and Robots. 'Central States' Desert has covered much of the Central United States but some in the north remain humid, though very little water can be found in this region of the US, and most now belongs to the NoGo with scattered few regions of PZ Territories keeping a little bit of Americana alive in the heartland of the USA. Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have all avoided the worst of the rising temperatures, but even here the rising global climate has resulted in a Hot Humid climate and crops are struggling all over the region, and with almost no PZ Territories in these states they have largely been abandoned into the NoGo, Duluth and Minneapolis mark the eastern edge of what is now a vast region of Native-American tribal law, and Gang Conflicts, while in the west the Rocky Mountains mark the western edge of the Great northern Wilderness and the places of the survivalist camps and settlements. Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma now make up the massive bulk of the Great Central Desert, where once the landscape was covered in farms it is now an arid wasteland, the northern and western edges of this region remain partially in increasingly dry conditions but Human Settlements still cling to life in this increasingly harsh place. The once mighty Mississippi and Missouri now trickle only with toxic waters from decades of poor waste management and disposal. This legacy has left the centre of Kansas as a Toxic wasteland where Mutants, Bio-Constructs and Independent Robots flee the increasing anger of the Human race, as they fight tooth and nail to hold on to the last scraps of this part of the US. Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas mark the south western edge of the Central US, here a few PZ bastions remain and the Desert has not yet swept away the last of the plants, as much of Colorado and New Mexico still remain short of Desert, though most of Texas is now being swallowed on both sides by the Sierra Madre and Great Central Desert as they ever draw closer to becoming one vast desert, interspaced by religious cults and other religious organisations in there post apocalyptic communities. 'Western Seaboard' Much of the West Coast US is rapidly growing either more & more arid and desert like or clusters of bio-terraformed hell as the years pass with the northern most parts retaining the last few places where crops will grow healthily. Admittedly there are large regions of PZ Territories here, the water supply is rapidly dwindling and clouds of Toxic gas and poisoned earth have made life become sterile and hard even in the well policed PZ Territories. Washington State, Oregon, and Idaho retain the last bits of temperate climate in the West, crops cover much of these regions and military forces patrol the region still keeping order under the Government (Under the Corporations), while the Enforcers keep the peace in the PZ Territories. though Washington and Idaho are seeing the Desert slowly encroach on their lands, so more and more crop fields failing each year. Nevada and Utah mark the edges of the Temperate regions of the US, with most of the states now covered in Desert or increasingly Arid soil, Reno and Salt Lake City remain the PZ Strongholds of these states while Las Vegas has deteriorated entirely out of control with Gangs and organised crime families like the Mafia and Power Players running the streets and the Enforcers long forgotten. It is a place of violence and beauty, growth and decay, once the Star City of Shows now it shines for a darkly different reason. California and Arizona mark the western most edges of America and the last outposts of 'Civilized' Life in the US, from San Francisco to Tuvana in Mexico the entire coast is controlled by PZ Patrols, with high fences and shoot first mentalities in mind they strictly control the Territory. Precious commodities such as water grows increasingly expensive and even the High Class population are feeling the pinch as these lands grow ever hotter and dryer. 'The Independent States' While all the States of America officially fall under the rule of the Government in Washington 'Many believing it to be 'The Puppet Government' of Corporations,' the States of Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee have assumed greater powers of self-Government; and as such have severely curtailed the Government policy and laws and tightened their control over their states, though (though none have officially seceded from the Union). and now even hold official meetings in Memphis to discuss their strategies. Tight border control and strict regulations make these states more militaristic and sectarian than most . This has had the feel of making them feel more like a different country, though only in an unofficial way are they 'consider' themselves the Independent States (I.S.) Ironically this sectarian policy has given rise to the dark side of border control as they enforce state-line tariffs and other legal hazards, unwittingly creating a large smuggling industry, both state sponsored and illegal. Missouri now falls largely into the category of 'dry soil', with Greenies using the previous centuries knowledge to re-green and fight back against the encroaching desert. Much of its landscape is polluted by the Mississippi, but Kansas City and St Louis remain strongly controlled in PZ fences, and even the Highways for miles around are fitted with reinforced outposts, armed and ready to fire on Gang Vehicles trying to enter the city. Arkansas now resides in the belly of the Great Central Desert and if Memphis did not spread into this state it is likely that the Independent States would not include Arkansas, but what little remains of the State is growing increasingly toxic as the Mississippi spreads decades of dumped waste into the Desert. While Little Rock Survives out in the desert under tight control of the NoGo Cults and Gangs that rule the roads around this area, creating constant conflicts with Ops Teams on the Highway. Kentucky is slowly being dried out by the encroaching desert but in the west the lush greens of crop fields still take hold in the dwindling Temperate regions here, the Kentucky Military and Ops Teams patrol these crops diligently, fighting off the increasingly frequent raiders who want their food stocks. Tennessee is equally drying out and much of the state is now made up of arid soils where little will grow, however very little Toxic action has taken place here as a result of colossal nanite impregnated concrete slabs and monoliths being buried along the Mississippi to stop the poisoned water from seeping into the soil, and more and more is being spent on trying to restore some of the land to a more temperate state. Independent States The US is still nominally governed from the White House in Washington, but power resides with the corporations. Some states, notably Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky & Tennessee, have assumed greater powers of self government, and are informally known as the Independent States . . 'Memphis''' (See Memphis) All four of the States ground together in the now massive radius of Memphis, spreading over the Mississippi in layers, with the poor and the destitute occupying the dark and dank areas of the city around the river, while the wealthy elite live in great shining glassy towers, and enclosed enclave parks. These retain a constant pleasant temperature with trees growing and flowers blooming. but as beautiful as the cities heights may be, the sewers under the city now make home to the Rad Zombies, nano-tech/bio-tech/cyber-tech horrors, environmental terrors and even Mutants that have become an increasing problem for the PZ Enforcers and Ops Teams that operate out of this city. See Also PZ NoGo City Names Index Dark Future: Living Rulebook Wiki